Euro 2016 - The heroes and zeroes so far

Steven Chisholm and Sportsbeat

Euro 2016 kicked off with a bang on Friday and sports fans have been treated to wall to wall football ever since.

There have been 630 regulation minutes of football played since Friday, but if your pesky life got in the way this weekend you might have missed a few of them.

Here are the heroes and zeroes of the tournament so far:

Germany 2 - Ukraine 0

Hero of the match

He gets overshadowed at times with Real Madrid but this was Toni Kroos at his absolute best. The midfielder made the opener for Mustafi, put Sami Khedira clean through with a magical through ball and saw a drive clip the top of the bar in Germany’s 2-0 victory over Ukraine.

Zero of the match

Not many contenders on the pitch, but Germany manager Joachim Low was caught on camera getting up to some strange antics on a number of separate occasions. He’s a world champion but even Low will surely be embarrassed to have been caught with his hands down his trousers!

Poland 1 - Northern Ireland 0

Hero of the match

Just 19 years old and appearing in his first major tournament, Bartosz Kapustka was a revelation in midfield for the Poles. One powerful volley was well saved by Michael McGovern but if he continues on this form plenty of big clubs will take note.

Zero of the match

It’s hard to be too critical with Northern Ireland just overmatched in this encounter but for a team so reliant on goals from set-pieces, Oliver Norwood’s delivery was not good enough at times. Given the height in his team, too many balls were overhit or to no-one in particular.

He might not have been the best player on the pitch, but one of the enduring images of the game will be Vedran Corluka. Caught by an elbow early on, he was forced off on three separate occasions to clear up his bleeding head. Trying out a succession of different bandages he kept going for the 90 minutes to help the Croatian cause.

Zero of the match

Arda Turan is one of Turkey’s biggest talents but was desperately disappointing, spending most of the first half filling in at left-back to cope with the marauding Darijo Srna. It was no surprise when he was replaced with 25 minutes to go.

Albania 0 - Switzerland 1

Hero of the match

Not that many candidates in a game that lacked quality at times. Yann Sommer made two crucial saves for the Swiss though, and in a game where they couldn’t take their chances, those interventions were crucial.

Zero of the match

He was a little unfortunate slipping on the way to picking up a second yellow, but Albania captain Lorik Cana’s red card really hurt his side. The French-based player will now miss the clash with France on Wednesday to rub salt into the wounds.

England 1 - Russia 1

Hero of the match

Moved back into midfield by Roy Hodgson, Wayne Rooney produced one of his best displays in a long while for England, controlling things from the centre of the park. He was denied a goal only by a wonderful save from Igor Akinfeev.

Zero of the match

Talked up as the giant who could cause England centre-backs all sorts of problems, Artem Dzyuba was a real disappointment. Lumbering and uncoordinated, he was easily dealt with by the English defence.

Wales 2 - Slovakia 1

Hero of the match

Slovakia had more of the ball but struggled to create chances. That was in large part down to Joe Allen’s ability to nick the ball away at crucial moments and his influence was clear throughout.

Zero of the match

It’s tough to put too much blame on goalkeepers but Kozacik seemed to be completely wrong-footed by Bale’s opener, despite the ball not changing direction. It would prove costly.

France 2 - Romania 1

Hero of the match

No question over this, Dimitri Payet was a class apart and it was fitting that he scored the winner. Left the field in tears of joy after a wonderful display.

Zero of the match

At 35, Patrice Evra is the elder statesman of the French team and he looked every one of those years for much of the game culminating in the Romanian penalty. It wasn’t costly, this time…